83 Cards in this Set

What office of govt was designed so that its potential for energy would be encouraged and its potential for tyranhy would be minimized?

US presidency

Who said, "power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Lord Acton, 18th century British historian and political figure

T or F
Americans have delegated decreasing amounts of power to the national government and to the presidency.

False. The powers have increased.

What office is at the core of the American democratic system?

Presidency

List the 7 (seven) key principles the framers based the presidency on:

1. single officeholder/presidency;
2. selection neither by Congress or people, but from electoral college;
3. fixed term of office;
4. eligible for more than 1 term of office;
5. could be removed by impeachment process;
6. given veto power over Congress;
7. was not required to appoint advisory council.

What are the 3 requirements for becoming president:

1. must be at least 35 years old;
2. must be a natural born citizen;
3. must have lived in the US for at least 14 years.

Which Const. Amendment restricts the number of terms one can serve as president?

22nd Amendment

Where in the Const. are the formal presidnetial powers devoted?

1/3 of Art. II

What does the word "veto" mean?

I forbid in Latin

List the 4 options a president may follow when Congress passes a bill or joint resolution?

1. sign the bill which makes it a law;
2. do nothing, allowing bill to become law w/o signature in 10 days;
3. If Congress adjourns before 10 days pass, president can kill the bill by "pocket veto";
4. veto sending bill back to house of origin with message stating reasons for veto. Congress may override by 2/3 vote in each house.

What is a "pocket veto"?

If Congress passes a bill and it adjourns within 10 days following and president does not sign into law.

What did the Const. framers see as a bulwark of executive independence?

Veto power.

What did Alexander Hamilton consider to be a "negative" by which an executive could defend against legislative excesses?"

Veto power

List the 3 major presidential powers:

1. Veto power
2. Appointment power
3. Treaty power

Where in the Const. is the presidential appointment power described?

Art. II Section II

Who can the president appoint?

1. ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls
2. judges of the Supreme Court
3. other Officers of the US whose appointment are not otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law.

Approximately how many presidential appointments require Senate confirmation?

2,000

What is probably the most important appointment a president makes?

Supreme Court justices

What is the term for formal international agreements between sovereign states?

treaties

T or F
Const. framers foresaw a system of consultation/advice and consent by the House of Reps to the President regarding negotiating treaties.

False. The Senate is to advise and consent the Pres. regarding the negotiating of treaties.

What is required for treaty approval?

2/3 majority of Senators present and voting.

What was the most significant treaty rejection?

1919 Pres. Wilson's Treaty of Versailles ending WWI and dooming US membership in League of Nations.

T or F
The Senate may not attach amendments to treaties.

False. The Senate can attach amendments.

What is the term for a government-to-government agreement with essentially the same legal force as a treaty however it may be concluded entirely without the knowledge and/or approval of the Senate?

Executive Agreement

What allows presidents or their agents to make important foreign policy moves w/o Senate approval?

Executive Agreements.

T or F
Presidents may not conclude an executive agreement on any subject within their constitutional authority as long as the agreement is not inconsistent with legislation enacted by Congress in the exercise of its consitutional authority.

False. The Pres may.

List the consitutional bases that scholars agree give the president right to conduct foreign policy through executive agreement:

1. authority as chief executive to represent the nation in foreign affairs;
2. authority to receive ambassadors & other public ministers;
3. authority as commander in chief;
4. authority to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." From Pres. oath.

T or F
Congress may amend executive-negotiated trade agreements.

False. The Senate can only vote Up or Down without amendments.

What was the name of the presidential authority Bush II pushed for in his 2002 State of the Union address?

Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), a fast-track authority that would allow the Pres. to negotiate good trade deals that will open markets, increase opportunities for farmers, workers, consumers, and business.

What is the term for the implied or inherent power of the pres. to withhold info on the ground that to release such info would affect either national security or the pres's abgility to discharge his/her official duties?

Executive Privilege

T or F
The US Consitution does not mention executive privilege.

True.

Who was the first pres to invoke executive privilege?

Washington

What was the reason for Washington's use of executive privilege in 1792?

Congress requested that Washington turn over all written documents pertaining to an Indian massacre of troops under Gen. St. Clair via Secretary of War Henry Knox.

What is probably the best-known case of executive privilege?

Nixon's attempt to keep tape recordings betweeen aides confidential arguing that they were w/in the province of the White House.

Cite examples of Bush II's invocation of executive privileges:

1. energy task force members
2. refusal to hand over to Congress info on the counting of the 2000 census

T or F
The Constitution gives the Pres the right to grant pardons.

True

T or F
The Constitution does not give the Pres. the right to convene Congress in extraordinary circumstances.

False. The Constitution says so.

T or F
The Consitution gives the Pres a specific mandate to run the executive branch of government.

False. The Constitution gives the Pres. a VAGUE mandate to run the executive branch.

Where in the Consitution is mentioned the executive powers of the President

Article II

What is the name of the approach to presidential power that was articulated by Ted Roosevelt and based on the presidencies of Lincoln and Jackson, who believed that the president had a moral duty to serve popular interests and did not need specific constitutional or legal aurthorization to take action?

Stewardship

What is the term for the view of persidential power espoused by Will Howard Taft who believed that the president could exercise no power unless it could be traced to or implied from an express grant in either the Constitution or an act of Congress

Constructionist

Who was the only person to serve as both president of the US and chief justice of the US Supreme Court

William Howard Taft

What was the term used for a statutory provision that allowed Congress to delay adminstrative actions for 2 or 3 months that was later ruled to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case INS v. Chadha

legislative veto

What area has produced the greatest enlargement of executive branch power?

Role as head of the nation in making key diplomatic and military decisions often in hours and minutes.

T or F
Both Court and Congress see the president as the dominant force in foreign policy.

True

Cite an example where Lincoln used broad interpretation of the commander in chief powers by using his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy:

Emancipation Proclamation

Cite an example used by F. Roosevelt used military powers against US citizens on US soil:

Internment of 100,000 Japanese Americans in interior places citing national security following bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Cite an example of Johnson's expansion of pres's military power in the 1960's

1964, the Southeast Asia Resolution where Congress approved and supported the determination of the President to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression.

What was the Southeast Asia Resolution also known as?

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Which US Pres was nearly impeached for falsifying reports to justify the President's military actions in Laos and Cambodia

Nixon

Which President sought to expand powers by seizing the steel mills to ensure the wargoing efficacy of the Korean conflict?

Truman

Was Truman successful at arguing for the expansion of presidential powers over the steel mills?

No.

What president vetoed the War Powers Resolution?

Nixon

What legislation placed requirements on the President during armed conflicts that must be made to the Congress?

War Powers Resolution of 1973

T or F
The War Powers eEsolution of 1973 requires that the president report to Congress within 72 hours after committing US troops to hostile action if no state of war has been declared.

False. 48 hours is requred.

How many times has Congress declared war?

5 times.

What is the name for the resolution that Bush is operating under for the Iragi occupation?